Flesh Is Frail
by AbbyRoseC
Summary: SamXBee Bumblebee never truly understood how fragile humans were until it was almost too late. Can he help Sam pick up the pieces and move on? Is he willing to cross a line no other Autobot has ever?
1. Chapter 1

Flesh is Frail

Prologue: Waiting

Bumblebee waited. It seemed to him that he spent an amazing portion of his time doing just that. There were many places that he simply couldn't follow Sam. For instance, Bumblebee would not fit inside the Witwicky house—even if the parents were of a mind to allow Sam's "Camaro" to come inside. And going to school with his boy was simply not a possibility either. Neither of those things truly bothered Bumblebee. However, what did bother the Autobot was when he was forced to wait while Sam took Mikaela on what humans referred to as "dates." Bumblebee had learned from the internet that dates were usually done only with the couple present, but he simply didn't like it when Sam chose the female over him. On that particular night, Sam and Mikaela seemed to be gone an extremely long time. Was two hours and nine minutes a long date? Bumblebee thought it was.

At two hours and thirty-seven minutes, Bumblebee spotted the pair walking out of the mall. Oddly, Mikaela was not clinging to Sam's arm, and he noted the fluid (called "tears) on her cheeks. Sam's face was contorted in a form that the Autobot recognized as anger. The boy slipped into the driver's seat without so much as a word.

Mikaela leaned against Bumblebee's frame and sobbed. "So it's over just like that? Over something so stupid?"

"Just like that?" Sam demanded incredulously. He got out of the car, slamming the door unintentionally. "You cheated on me!"

"It was before we'd really defined this…this thing between us," the female stammered. "I wanted to tell you.'

Sam sighed heavily. "You had seven months to tell me, and you didn't. As for "this thing between us" not being defined—I thought it was pretty damn obvious. Mikaela, get in the car and we'll take you home, but I DON'T want to talk to you now."

Mikaela nodded. "Well, then I guess I'll find another way home." She touched Bumblebee's hood gently. "I'll see you around, Bee."

As soon as the girl was half way across the parking lot, Sam got back inside the car. "I'm sorry, Bee," he said softly. His voice sounded oddly strangled and he gripped the steering wheel a little harder than usual. "I wasn't planning on that. Can we just go home now?"

Bumblebee started his engine, and he scanned the radio frequencies for a song but this was harder than most other situations. He settled for a soothing jazz station. Sam relaxed into his interior. "Thanks, Bee," he murmured, resting his cheek against the soft leather. Bumblebee could feel the wetness against him, and he wished more than anything that he could just make it go away. He wished that he could hold Sam as humans held each other and kiss away those tears. Was it wrong to wish these things? No, this was his Sam.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Mr. Blue Sky

Bumblebee decided that he liked summer on Earth…particularly summer on Earth with Sam. With Mikaela gone, Sam rarely left Bumblebee's side. The fledgling bond between then had grown too deep to measure. The two spent many lazy days going for long drives and finding new places where the Autobot could stretch out into his natural form. Even the quiet evenings spent at the lookout where special to him. For so long, Bumblebee's life had been simply about survival and defending his comrades that peace was a luxury he would never take for granted. He could not remember a time when he had felt as contented as he did with his human friend safely seated on his shoulder. Yes, this was the heaven that humans so often spoke of.

Sadly though, September came like a thief. Sam had remarked time and time again that school would start again soon, and Bee had chosen to ignore such comments. He didn't want to think of spending his days alone in the parking lot of the school or of having the parents once again limit Sam's freedom until ten o'clock. He was too enamored with summer to think of such things. Still, September came. Sam would return to school on the second.

On the morning of the first, Sam rushed out the door with a piece of toast in his teeth, scrambling to slide on a light jacket and keep hold of his bag all at once. Bumblebee revved his engine in greeting as the boy opened the door. "Good morning, Bee," Sam said suppressing a yawn.

_Hey, there, Mr Blue, we're so pleased to be with you. Look around, see what you do. Everybody smiles at you, _Electric Lights Orchestra sounded cheerily from Bumblebee's speakers. Though his vocal processor had been semi-repaired, Bumblebee relied on the radio, more-often-than-not, to speak to Sam.

Sam laughed. "Someone's in a good mood."

Bumblebee's engine purred in response. He was ready to go. There was no way he wanted to waste a second of their last day. Late into the night, Bumblebee had looked over as many satellite pictures of possible places to explore. He had found the perfect spot to take Sam, and the other Autobots had agreed to meet him there as an added surprise. Nothing could spoil this day…or so he thought.

"SAM!!!!" The shrill voice coming from the window belonged to Sam's female parent—the more annoying of the two—and didn't bode well for their trip.

"Fuck!" Sam swore softly. "YEAH, MOM?" 

"I need you to stop at the mall and pick up your father's tux for the dinner we're going to tomorrow night," she called out to them.

"Do I have to?"

In the end the answer had been: "yes, he had to." Disheartened, the pair drove to the mall, and Sam kept saying that it would only be a minute and then they could leave. Bumblebee was not given to human-like bouts of petulance, but he was indeed pouting. He kept the radio tuned to songs like "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "Parents Just Don't Understand."

At the mall, Bumblebee spotted a familiar brunette sitting near the entryway with an unfamiliar young man. Sam tensed in the driver's seat. "So that's Mikaela's new toy," he said bitterly. "The guy's a real winner. He went to school with us before they sent his ass to prison for beating some guy with a wrench."

_"…she's just the flavor of the week," _came Bumblebee's musical response.

"Screw them," Sam muttered. "I'm just going to run in, grab the tux, and be right back."

One of the hardest parts of being an Autobot in hiding was that there were situations when Bumblebee was aching to interfere, but couldn't. As Sam walked into the mall, Mikaela's new man started calling insults at him. Sam gave a gesture that Bumblebee knew as "flipping the bird" and kept walking. Bumblebee did not like being forced to tolerate people mistreating his human. It made his engine burn just thinking about it. Though Bumblebee truly wished no ill will to the female, he sincerely wanted to crush her new mate beneath his large, metal feet. Soon after Sam entered the building, Bumblebee watched the couple follow not far behind.

Bumblebee sat in the parking lot glumly as he waited for Sam. The human definition of a "minute" must differ from the actual marking of time, he thought.

The Autobot's musings were soon ripped apart by the wail of sirens in the night. As the sound moved closer, Bumblebee began to scan the radio frequencies to see what all the fuss was about.

"…Approximately seventeen year old male with multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen…police are on route to the scene…"

If Bee had been human, he would have felt the air leave his lungs. As it was he simply felt as though all of his connections had been severed, leaving him with only an emptiness. He watched two police cars and an ambulance pull up to the mall. Where was Sam? Was his Sam the seventeen year old male in question?

Bumblebee could not help himself as he rolled closer to where the ambulance was parked. He simply had to know. With his holographic driver in place, Bumblebee hoped to avoid being noticed. The humans from inside of the ambulance raced through the entrance with a stretcher behind them, carrying an assortment of bags. One of the policemen, who had been inside already, exited the mall with a blood-covered Mikaela under his arm.

In the very depths of his spark, Bumblebee knew what had happened.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: In Comes Mr. Night

There were many dark days in Bumblebee's life. From battles to leaving his home world to die, from having his vocal processors nearly ripped out to lying helpless in the street while his comrades fought. No, Bumblebee was not a stranger to suffering. Still, sitting as a car in the hospital parking lot, waiting for the Witwicky adults to come tell him news of Sam rated as one of his worst times. _It is my fault. I have failed Sam as his guardian. It is all my fault. _The self directed accusations kept running through his mind as he stared at the hospital.

A loud, rumbling sounded as Ironhide pulled up beside the yellow Autobot, but Bumblebee hardly noticed. It took him a long time to acknowledge his friend or the human hand on his door. "What happened, Bumblebee?" Lennox asked softly.

His vocal processors felt tight and misused. "Sam saw Mikaela and her new mate at the shopping mall. The new male didn't like the way Sam looked at his female and…and he cornered Sam in the men's room with a knife…Mikaela found them…Sam…he…" That was all the more Bumblebee could say. 

"We should find this human and crush him," Ironhide said resolutely. Bumblebee did not doubt that the black bot would do just that without a second thought, and at the moment he didn't have the will to argue with him.

"Whoa!" Ironhide's human commanded with his hands in the air. "You guys realize what would happen if there was a report of you actually killing a human. I heard that the kid is already in police custody. Let them handle this. Right now, we need to think about Sam."

"Hrumph. I believe your human authorities are too soft, but I will not harm him," Ironhide agreed.

"My fault…" Bumblebee muttered ignoring the pain.

"It's not your fault, Bee," Lennox assured him "I'm going to go in there now and see how he's doing. If he's stable enough, I already talked my commanding officers into allowing him to be moved to a more "Autobot friendly" facility. I told them that you would most likely compromise your existence by trying to visit Sam."

In that moment, Bumblebee was more than grateful to have the Army Ranger among their allies. He had always liked the human soldier, but now he could honestly count him as a friend. "Thank you."

The two Autobots sat in silence as they waited for Lennox to return. Of all the Autobots, they were the least communicative and the situation made them even less so. Ironhide's presence, silent as it may be, was still reassuring to the smaller bot. Being near one of his own kind gave him a tenuous amount of comfort.

Lennox, thankfully, did not take long. He strode across the lot with a grim look on his face. The human ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "It's not good. The doctors said that Sam was stabbed at least fourteen times. He has a lot of internal bleeding, and they are pretty sure one of the stabs to the neck, nicked his spinal chord on the left side. They had to re-inflate one lung and they are still dealing with all of the damage to his liver and stomach."

"Will the boy live?" Ironhide demanded. At that moment, Bumblebee could not bare to ask that question…nor was he truly ready for the answer.

"They're not sure yet. The next twenty-four hours are crucial. If he lives that long, he might have a chance. I'm really sorry, Bumblebee," the human said sympathetically.

The world felt like it was shattering. Bumblebee barely heard Lennox say that he was going in to await more information. Ironhide, though physically still present, disappeared from Bumblebee's awareness. What would Earth be without Sam? In the perspective of an Autobot's life, twenty-four human hours is such a tiny amount of time, but to Bumblebee every one of those hours was agony. Somewhere in that space of time, Ratchet and Optimus arrived. He vaguely heard their sympathies and heard them speaking with Ironhide, but all he cared about was waiting on word of his Sam.

In the morning, a very tired looking Lennox returned to them once more. He greeted the new arrivals before beginning his report. "Things are still kind of touch and go. They've got him on a respirator and he's still unconscious, but he's alive. Sam's a tough kid. That said, the doctors don't think it's safe to move him until after he's regain consciousness and breathing on his own."

"A wise choice," Rachett agreed from beside him.

The medic questioned Lennox extensively on Sam's condition, but once again Bumblebee was in his own little world.

_Please, Sam, _Bumblebee begged. _Don't die._

Another twenty-four hours passed, and Sam did not die. Though he still had not awakened, Lennox did report that the doctors were pleased with his progress. Bumblebee's relief was substantial, but he would not be able to relax until he had seen Sam—alive and well.

Lennox left the hospital that evening. He told the Autobots that he needed to sleep on something resembling a bed and call his wife. Ironhide took his human to a nearby motel to sleep. Without his human connection to Sam, Bumblebee felt even more withdrawn.

On the dawning of the third day, Optimus decided not to let Bumblebee sit in silence any longer. "Blaming yourself will not make this go away, my friend," the larger bot said in a matter-of-fact-tone. He expected nothing less than objectivity from their leader, but that did not mean that it was welcome. Unprompted, Optimus continued, "I have considered your attachment to Sam to be harmful to you for some time now. Humans are fragile creatures. They die so easily and live much shorter lives—you must see this. Even if Sam lives through this, it is likely he will be impaired. Perhaps it is best if you leave him."

Anger surged through Bumblebee. "Is that how you thought of me when I was injured? When I was captured?"

Optimus Prime seemed to choose his words carefully. "You know why I was forced to leave you with the humans. As for when you were wounded—no, I would not have left you. You are my friend and one of the few of our kind left. Still, Sam is not our kind. He has the love of his kind to sustain him. Tell me, Bumblebee, will you endure this again years from now, when the boy is old and dying?"

"If I must," cam Bumblebee's weak reply.

"Then so be it. I will wait with you."

"As will I," Ratchet chimed in.

"You don't think I'm going to let you three sit here all sappy on your own do you?" Ironhide asked pull up beside them.

For the first time since Sam had been hurt, Bumblebee realized that he was not alone. He could not ask for more from his friends.

It was late on the fourth day when Bumblebee saw the elder Witwicky male crossing the parking lot. He looked haggard and careworn. It was obvious that the human had scarcely left his offspring's side.

Bumblebee had only spoken to the Witwicky adults on one occasion. After an intense debriefing, they had been brought in to meet the Autobot who would be taking up residence in their driveway. After the initial greetings, the humans had promptly ignored Bumblebee's existence. Sam had told him once that it was easier for them to pretend that he was just a car. The thought of giant, alien robots living among them was simply too much for them to bear.

The man stopped just short of the collection of Autobots. Unsure of the others, he moved closer toward Bumblebee. "He's awake," he said softly. "Sam's going to live."

"Thank the Stars!" Bumblebee said feeling a wash of agony lift from him.

The Witwicky male nodded. "He's not out of the woods yet. He's got some paralysis on his right side, and the doctors don't want to take his tracheotomy tube out until they are sure the wounds in his throat are alright, so he can't talk yet." He let out a sad chuckle. "He can't talk, can barely move, and he still made it obvious that you are the first person he wants to see. We agreed to let Lennox move him in the morning."

"Mr. Witwicky, thank you for telling me this," Bumblebee murmured gratefully.

Sam's father only nodded before disappearing back into the building.

With the knowledge that Sam would be alright, Bumblebee let himself drift into stasis. Tomorrow, he would be able to see Sam."


	4. Chapter 4

OK well, I am not putting this on hiatus or anything, but I have been putting in like 70 hour weeks right now. I just don't have in me to write very much after I get home. Hopefully this will tide you over until I can get some time to actually write.

Interlude

Sam had been scared plenty of times in his life—more since he'd bought a certain Camaro than before, to be honest. Even when he was being chased by a giant, evil, alien robot, he wasn't as terrified as he was the moment he opened his eyes in the hospital. The pain alone had been enough to make him want to scream…the thing was though, he couldn't. As Sam came to, he soon realized that the whooshing he heard was actually a respirator that was connected to a tube coming out of a gaping hole in his neck. He tried to sit up, but he couldn't do that either. His entire left side was racked by absolute agony, and his numb, right side wouldn't obey his commands. All he could do way lie there helplessly as his eyes flitted about the room in absolute terror.

"Honey, it's alright," his mother said softly as she appeared in his field of vision. "You're going to be fine. I'm here." She touched his cheek gently and wiped away tears that he hadn't even realized were there. He'd never been all that close to his mother, but at that very moment, he was glad she was there. He gripped her hand tightly with his left hand, ignoring the anguish that surged through him with the motion. "Sweetie, I have to tell the doctors that you're awake. I'll be right back, I promise."

Mere seconds later, a short, Asian man appeared before him. "Sam, my name is Dr. Hung. Can you squeeze my hand?" he asked taking Sam's left hand. "Good. Now how about the right?"

Try as he might, Sam couldn't make his right hand move.

"Alright. Sam, I am going to have you blink if you feel what I am about to do. Can you do that?" 

Sam blinked in response and watched as the doctor began to stab at his leg with a tiny needle. He didn't feel a thing. In horror, he realized what was going on. He wanted to start screaming. How had this happened? Like a flood, the memory of being stabbed washed over him. Tears began to flow down his cheeks. The only thing he could think of was how much he wanted Bumblebee to be there.

Dr. Hung cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Could I speak to you both outside?" he asked Sam's parents. He cast Sam a fake smile. "Hang in there, kid."

It should have pissed him off, but Sam was too drugged to be angry. Between the drugs, the pain, and the overwhelming depression he was feeling, he simply didn't have it in him to be pissed. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be sitting safely in Bumblebee's front seat. The Autobot made him feel protected, and Sam couldn't remember feeling as vulnerable as he did right then.

As soon as his parents walked back into the room, Sam began to make a motion like writing with his left hand. He gritted his teeth against the pain. He HAD to make them understand…he just had to.

"Honey, you need to be still," his mother told him trying to hold his hand.

Sam glared at her and went right on making the gesture.

Sam's father sighed. "If I get you a pen and paper, will you stay still after that?"

In reply, Sam stopped moving and waited. He could barely hold the pen when his father pressed it into his fingers. With a little help and a lot of patience, Sam managed to scrawl one half-legible word.

_**BEE.**_


End file.
